Window Conversation
by SolStarSenshi
Summary: Allura corners Keith and asks him tough questions regarding how he feels for her in relation to the desires of the Princess and the Arun People.


She found him in the 'ready-room', the room with the floor to ceiling windows that allowed them to survey the area directly in front of the castle. The main thing she always thought as she looked out the windows was that she expected the white granite statue of the winged lion to start grooming itself. After all, the castle, thanks to the kittens that were the orphan's companions, was filled with fleas.

She was in a simple outfit; her mentor and caretaker would have had a heart attack. A simple sky blue skirt that went below her knees complimented the blouse, a plain white short sleeve that inspires comparisons to a tee shirt. Simple brown sandals that were an earthen color completed the accent. Sitting down on the table, another act that would have had her caretaker in arms over, she fluffed her hair back behind her shoulders and sat waiting.

He had trimmed his hair in his time away, loosing the split ends she noticed. He had also actually pulled it back into a ponytail, a single black cloth covered elastic band holding it behind his back. His affection of red clothing was evident in his dress shirt while black pants and sneakers, Earth called the shoes, completed his outfit. He looked over at her, a question in his eyes as he half turned from the window he stood at.

The one right in front of 'his' or 'their' Lion she thought to herself in amusement. Not getting a response he turned back to the window and contemplated the scene before him. She looked out as well, seeing the statue and fixing her gaze, a slight smile on her face, on it. He was the primary pilot, her own primary one 'resting' or recharging at her station under the waters of the Castle's lake. It was only when he was injured or unavailable that she would take the controls of him.

Though she was quite aware that she had to give it chance to reset its gender to match her own.

THAT had not been a fun lesson though it made sense once she realized what was the problem.

"What is the smile on your face for?" he asked, gentle amusement of friends in his tone.

"Just remembering the vocal tirade when I figured out that He needs a chance to reset himself into She," she replied with a light laugh. At his snort of laughter, she leaned back and pulled her leg up, wrapping her hands around her right knee.

"Nanny would have a snit fit at best about my posture," she said with a trace of bittersweet humor.

"True, she would have. But I do think she would have finally admitted that you are a woman capable of making your own decisions about your conduct and not just blissfully rebelling against her expectations of royal conduct." He fell silent for a moment, looking out at the winged lion.

"Then again, she never seemed to accept that you were no longer the six year old girl she had once taken care of," he half teased his friend.

She threw her head back and started laughing, a grin on her face. "Oh goddess," she finally said once she stopped laughing, "that is the truth. She honestly thought the worst of the four of you even though you had repeatedly proved yourselves. I really think that if Zarkon had not killed her, she would still be having armed guards against the four of you."

"She loved you like the daughter she would never have. Nothing more needed to be said," he said with a shrug as he looked over at her before smiling and looking back out at the statue.

"True, though I must admit I never saw her as a mother, more of a mothering aunt would be the best descriptive." She fell silent, humming a little to herself as the first of the evening's clouds started to drift into the window's view. "Think we will have rain this evening?" she asked as she looked at it and then back out again.

"Probably tonight if not this evening. After all, it is the rain season and Leonne is close enough to the latitude of England back on Earth. Plus we are just deep enough into the continent to be right at the threshold for a costal region. Depending on the season…" he drifted off with a shrug.

"I like the weather changes," she declared impishly. He laughed at her having stuck her tongue out at him and fell silent, a smile on both his face and hers as well. A comfortable silence filled the room. McClane, Stoker and Garrett were their friends and brother's in arms but it was nice not to have the three of them blathering off about something. "So, is there a reason you are in here or not?" she finally got around to asking.

"I don't think you will let me play dumb about it either," he said, falling silent at her lack of need to respond.

It was a quarter of an hour before he spoke up again. "I think I can guess why you are here and unfortunately all of the possibilities have to do with royal decorum and related matters. Would you like me to start listing them?"

"No, I think there is only one of them that you really need to worry about and while I do intend to discuss it today, whether it is still day or not, I can wait until you ask to resolve it if you do need the time." She fell silent, waiting while he mused things over in his mind.

"Do you want to discuss it now?"

"Are you willing to answer the question it poses honestly, to both yourself and I?" she responded, letting her leg fall down and both started to swing back and forth under the table edge.

"Do you want me to propose and become the consort to your Queen of Altair and of Arus?"

"I have 'hero worship' and related issues telling me yes. But that is my issues. What about you?" she asked, pointedly locking gazes with him.

"I am a soldier, no more, no less. I don't want anything more," he continued, matching her gaze. "No political power, no noble titles, no responsibility besides the job I do as the leader of the Lion Voltron.

"No more, no less."

"Yet, I have a 'hero worship' infatuation and love for you in addition to the political considerations of linking a loved general such as yourself with the royal family," she finished with a laugh, having started at his snort at the 'loved general' comment. "Then there is the fact that there really is no other nobility left here on Arus after the purge of the Galran fleets all those years ago.

"Slowly but surely I am rebuilding it but there is nothing to top being the established hero who piloted a Lion. Truth be told, you are the last of the five of you to accept a title from me. Coran is ready to suggest it publicly that I just give you one any ways." She laughed at the unenthused look he sent her before returning his vision to the winged lion, even as he mulled over her words.

"Of course it would do no good since Arus pretty much accepted that even though I gave Sven a title last year, as well as formally making him ambassador to Pollux, just as Bandor has made Rommelle ambassador to Arus, he had one as well since he was part of your team and my predecessor as Blue Pilot.

"Same thinking by the people makes it a matter of your officially accepting it the only reason they do not call you Sir Keith Kogane."

Falling silent they watched clouds start to gather; the rain would come that evening for sure. The question was whether there would be daylight when it did arrive. Responding to his question she waited while he made them their drinks, hers a mint coco and his, a green tea. They sipped in silence for a few minutes before he went and added a little more milk to his before he walked back to the window and leaned back against it, facing her. "Do you want me to propose?" he asked, neither enthused nor unenthused.

"Are you in love with me?" she asked causing him to look at her, an unspoken question as she continued. "Specific wording since I know you do love me; you wouldn't have stayed here or made a point of teaching me what you have, both as a leader and as a person, much less as a soldier.

"Hence the specific wording: Are you in love with me?"

"Not _In_ love with you, no. You are a right in that I do love you. Elaboration?" he asked as he took a sip. At her nod, he continued. "I do love you, only it's more in the way of an older brother rather than a person who wants to make you his one and only. There are others you can marry if you want that; as unhinged by both Earth and Arus' standards he was even Lotor would have been a choice had that been the only consideration," he finished as he ducked and then stepped away from the hail of napkin bullets she was throwing at him.

As fast as she crushed one into a ball it was in the other hand and thrown at him. Laughing as she finally ran out of ammunition he paused long enough to pick them up and take them over to the drink station and the compost refuse container. "So that is where I stand.

"My personal suggestion is to catch Lance's attention and let him know you actually are interested and to get his ass back to the castle as fast as he can."

"What if I am willing to accept that I have the more focused feelings in the relationship? That requires you to answer a simple question Keith: Do you honestly have someone else to go to? Now or in the future?"

He was silent as he stared at the last napkin he had tossed into the container. "Are you asking this because you can't find anyone else to court for the kingdom?" He continued to stare at the napkin as she thought about her response.

"I think it is an option. A valid one actually. History has long held romances and marriages that were slanted to one side compared to others where the partners were equal for the most part in their affection.

"I can accept that I would have the dominant love element. The question is whether you could accept that you would no longer have the option of pursuing a relationship with the person who would have been your heart's choice.

"Point blank Keith, I will have happiness if we are married and not a bit of regret because I, not only am I in love with you as a hero, I am in love with you as a person. You would have to answer whether you are able to accept it…find fulfillment in it for yourself that would make it all worthwhile."

She fell silent, sipping the last of her coco as he made no comment and just sipped his tea with an introverted air about him, looking to the floor. He noted passively that she was not wearing socks or any other clothing based protection on her feet as he watched her swing her legs back and forth. It was weird what the mind notices as it tries to figure itself out.

"Are you not worried that it would be a sham of a marriage? After all, I am not _in_ love with you, despite the fact that I do love you," he finally asked as he looked up at her and noted her humorous smile.

"You would make it as real as it would need to be for the people who watch such things. You would not betray the marriage at all nor would you ever be abusive to me. It is just not who you are.

"The truth of the matter is that once you commit to it the marriage will be real and everything it needs to be. At this point, you are the one to make the decision. And even if it is 'no' your role need not change. You are still the leader of the Lion Voltron Force until such a time, as you no longer care to hold that position.

"Health issues might move you from the Lion to the Castle Control but you would still be the leader," she teased as she looked at him, a smile on her face.

"And you would honestly accept the level of love I have for you as the basis for the marriage?" he asked after a few moments.

"Keith you are a man of honor. If you do accept this role that the people, and it is as much the people as me and my 'hero worship', want to see occur then there is no doubt in my heart or mind that you would be the best husband possible. You would do no less."

He was silent, noting that the sky was starting to tinge orange as the sun began to set. "Here is another question that I would like to know the answer to, and it's blunt:" he warned her. "I am aware, thanks to Lance…"

"And Darrel," Allura added. A sharp glance was his response to her comment. She shrugged. "I am quite aware of his fan base. I am actually surprised that they are as quiet as they are, though I don't think he actually wants me to potentially think less of him. I know he has turned into a bit of a ladies man; who wouldn't with Lance as a mentor when he finally gained the confidence, and that last growth spurt, to actually approach women."

"As I was saying," he continued after a moment of silence; he really didn't want to know how their friend Darrel 'Pidge' Stoker has let himself be known to their queen. He had made a point of declaring that he would keep quiet so she would not have her innocent image of him sullied by the reality of his late puberty. "Lance and Darrel have figured out that Earth Humans and Arun Humans are compatible structurally. If anything Lance says your women are better able to react to the male body in action.

"How compatible are the genetic elements?" he asked her.

"Whatever forces on the cosmic, divine or both scales in tangent that created Earth and Arus made us genetically compatible. The incidence of miscarriages does tend to be on the higher end of the probability scales but they are still capable of creating a child together.

"Do you need me to get the specific percentages?" she asked him after a few moments of silence at the end of her statement. At his headshake she just leaned back on the table. From the universal shifting of an adult male she decided he was capable of responding to the position of her body. Smiling she shifted herself into an upright sitting position. There was no point in keeping herself displayed prominently if she already had the reaction she was looking for.

She smiled at him as he gave her a look that conveyed her knew what she was doing.

"Have I become that much of a symbol for the whole planet?"

"It's worse than that. The entire alliance is starting to consider it a fairy tale made real." She smiled at his shocked expression. "Yes, the whole alliance, all three galaxies. The self-styled Near, Middle and Far Universes.

"Even the general who is watching the prison with Lotor in it has reported that he, Lotor himself, is wondering when the damn wedding is taking place." Timing her next tidbit of information, she smiled wide at his shocked response: "Of course the general writes in his reports that Lotor wonders if the wedding has already occurred and we are just not publicizing the fact."

"WHAT?"

She couldn't help herself; she threw her head back and laughed non-stop. He just continued to look at her, mouth agape and trying to wrap around the fact that their greatest enemy had already decided that they were married and were just keeping it secret.

Shifting several minutes later so that she was reclining on the table properly, or at least as properly as one would recline on a table, she shifted onto her side and looked toward him. He had gone silent at her last comment and was looking at the floor, trying to work his emotions out. Folding her right arm like a pillow under her she just silently waited for him to rouse himself.

Eventually he looked at her. "What do you honestly want me to do?"

"I want you to propose to me if it is that you will find honest happiness in the marriage. If that is not the case then I want you to make a public 'effort' to date me and the two of us can declare that it would not have worked out between us. While there would be people who would always wish otherwise, and I won't say I would not be among them, it would be better than you living a lie of everything instead of just not returning my focus of love for you."

"Then, if you would Allura, please date me so I can answer that question and not have to regret a snap decision regarding our individual and shared futures," he said as he kneeled before her, head bowed.

"Very well Sir Kogane. I will accept your petition to date me so that we can determine the future together. But, as I responded to your request, no matter how this unfolds, you are to claim that noble title when you make your decision."

"As you wish, Queen Allura. Now, our friends are undoubtedly gathering for dinner. Shall we announce that we are dating or not?"

"To them and Coran we will just admit that we are trying a relationship and it will be on the quiet for now. After all, while Arus does not have Earth's paparazzi we do have annoying rumor mongers," she responded with a wry smile.

"I believe they are called gossips," he answered with a smile as he offered his hand to help her from the table.

"I believe you are right Keith," she replied with a smile. She may no longer believe in the _'happily ever after'_ that formed the foundation of all cultures fairy tales, well significant element to them, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have the ability to appreciate the closest that reality can come.

If her Knight in Voltron Lion is capable of loving her and not regretting their marriage, she would be very happy with it after all is said and done.

Author's notes

Word Count 3183

I had written this late last year, sometime after reading Kristina Marie's _Battle_ on . A very good read and the source of Darrel's dropping the nickname Pidge and turning into a ladies man.

In it, Allura was pure hero worship, which worked for the story very nicely and was an endearing element to it. After watching the few GoLion episodes I have and learning how much the people of Altea (the Japanese name of Arus) were killed/eaten/other violence on camera, Allura to me seemed more deliberately optimistic than naïve.

Hence this story set some time after the original series. I am deliberately leaving it vague as to how long it has been since the defeat of the Galran Drule Empire at Korinoth, Planet Doom itself in the original ending to Lion Voltron and the official ending of GoLion. The only verifiable information is that Darrel has had a growth spurt and is old enough to become a ladies man.

Probably five to ten years depending on just what age you thought he was in the cartoon.

I have also included the fact that Nanny was killed in GoLion because it seems appropriate. While Lotor (Sincline in GoLion) fell to his death in GoLion I have gone with the Voltron cartoons various indications that he was merely wounded and thus captured. Plus there is the fact that as with most villians, you just don't get anywhere near as cool as he got.

I may continue this with another full story where the problems of the past come full circle with present - I would do so after I got a chance to get the full Go-Lion and Dairugger XV so I can be true to the originals as well as Voltron. Especially since the re-editing of the Vehicle Voltron seemed more schizophrenic than with the Lion Voltron. For now, this will just be a one-shot.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
